I actually felt asleep for the first time while watching a match of Julia.
I`d like to tell her -
"Listen Julia, you never were and never will be a halfway decent doubles player.
So stop that shit and concentrate exclusively on your singles career."

Just finished watching the first set, which Julia lost, 4-6. Some quick observations:

First couple of games neither Julia nor Knapp were playing especially well, but I was happy to see the forehand at full power and Jule with aggressive runs to the net.

Of course, while the power FH is back, so is the wild west one.

First service needs to be better, hovering around 50%.

Jule wins love game to make is 4-3. Knapp talked to her coach, he said something magical, Knapp wins love game 4-4. Jule, down 2 BPs DFs and is down 4-5. Loses the set on a UE, 4-6.

Positives: the FH is all powerful again and the serve looks like it's back to normal.
Negatives: BH still awful, and all the technical issues she's had long-term are still there like god-awful relatives who won't vacate your home.

My stream is pretty bad. Another 3 break-points wasted.
There is a strange but somehow wellknown procedure in this match. Julia is playing pretty well until the points when it counts. She wants it badly but has no confidence.
4-6, 3-3 and still in this match. Come on, Julia !

My stream is pretty bad. Another 3 break-points wasted.
There is a strange but somehow wellknown procedure in this match. Julia is playing pretty well until the points when it counts. She wants it badly but has no confidence.
4-6, 3-3 and still in this match. Come on, Julia !

Didn't see the match. How was Julia's movement ? If she wants to get back to the Top 20 she absolutely must improve her wheels and footwork to something approaching decent (like in Stuttgart/Madrid '11). She also needs to ease up a bit on Megablasting her FH at the first-strike shot. Work the point a bit then gun the corner shot. But I guess that if she feels her movement's crap then she'll feel enormous pressure to finish the point ASAP....

At least the wrist seems to be good. With a few matches under her belt, hopefully she'll iron out the kinks in her game in time for the Aussie Open. Man, I miss the Stuttgart '11 days....

Didn't see the match. How was Julia's movement ? If she wants to get back to the Top 20 she absolutely must improve her wheels and footwork to something approaching decent (like in Stuttgart/Madrid '11). She also needs to ease up a bit on Megablasting her FH at the first-strike shot. Work the point a bit then gun the corner shot. But I guess that if she feels her movement's crap then she'll feel enormous pressure to finish the point ASAP....

At least the wrist seems to be good. With a few matches under her belt, hopefully she'll iron out the kinks in her game in time for the Aussie Open. Man, I miss the Stuttgart '11 days....

She's not as off-balance 2nd set as she was in the first. But she's just not capitalizing on Knapp's lackluster moments.